Budget Airlines More Efficient In Respect To The Environment
Sharon MillerDelegates participating at the UN Climate Change conference hosted in Copenhagen need to take a closer look at budget carriers when commenting on the impact of flights on the environment.
Indeed, it is very easy to see why low-cost airlines have a lower carbon footprint than traditional commercial carriers.
A passenger could reduce by as much as 30% his or her contribution to emissions by choosing a budget carrier such as RyanAir or easyJet instead of travelling in business class on a regular carrier.
Liligo.co.uk, the travel search engine recently sponsored a research which demonstrated that low-cost airlines provide a smaller carbon footprint to passengers based on several factors.
Amongst these were:
The larger capacity offered by budget carriers in respect to the size of the aircraft. These simply fit more seats onto their planes. easyJet fits 180 seats on its Airbus 320, while British Airways has 134 on the same plane.
Budget carriers are fuller thanks to cheaper prices. In the year ending September 2009, the yield factor at easyJet was about 85%, where as BA had around 75% on its European routes.
The main business of budget airlines is short haul flying. Despite having more flights and moving more passengers, budget carriers create fewer emissions.
A good indication of the carbon footprint is the airline’s available seat kilometre (ASK): the ASK of British Airways is two and half times the one of easyJet, despite the low-frill airline carrying 30% more people than BA in 2009.
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Filed under Health & Environment, Travel News, UK News